July 26, 2018 (Thursday)
Yesterday’s blog was entitled, “An Undivided Heart,” based on Psalm 86:11 (NIV), “give me an undivided heart.”
The plea is simple enough to take at face value: “Give me an undivided heart.” But when you think about it for a while, different interpretations and/or applications of this idea come to mind. For instance, the plea may mean, “Help me to focus on what is most important.” Pastor Ray Pritchard paraphrases the verse: “Put me together, Lord, because right now my life is scattered in a thousand directions!” Lysa Kerkeurst suggests we pray like this: “Father God, please forgive me. You know how my heart can get so divided and stretched and pulled in a million directions. Thank You for reminding me that You want every single piece of my heart. Please reveal anything I have been turning to instead of You. Teach me to rely on Your strength and power in the areas where I am weak. My deepest desire is to follow hard after You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
Perhaps the idea of an undivided heart calls to mind a warning from Jesus, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24 NIV). Remember the young rich ruler who heard Jesus say, “Sell all you have and give it to the poor, then follow me,” and “went away grieved for he had great possessions.” How sad. His heart was divided. He wanted, as the old saying goes, “to have his cake and eat it, too.”
When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment of all, he answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Note that God wants an undivided heart from us: “all, all, all, all” makes that clear.
An undivided heart is not an unreachable goal for the Christian. Indeed, it is the beginning place. God says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13 NIV).
